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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Air France replaces speed sensors
Source: Agencies |
June 16, 2009, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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AIR France has replaced the air speed sensors on its entire fleet of Airbus A330 and A340 long-haul aircraft, a pilots' union official said yesterday. The company had been under pressure from pilots who feared the devices could be linked to the crash of Flight 447.
Meanwhile, in the deep waters of the mid-Atlantic, a Dutch ship began trolling with a high-tech, United States Navy listening device yesterday in search of the flight data and voice recorders. Investigators say information from those black boxes is key to determining what caused Air France Flight 447 to crash into the ocean with 228 people on board.
Experts looking into the May 31 crash of the 4-year-old Airbus A330 jet have so far focused on the possibility that external speed monitors - called Pitot tubes - iced over and gave false readings to the plane's computers.
In the weeks before the accident, Air France had begun replacing the tubes on its A330 and A340 jets, but not yet on the plane that crashed.
After the accident, the airline pledged to speed up the switch and complete it by the end of this month, after pilots complained.
The whole fleet "is equipped since the end of last week with Thales' BA sensors," said Erick Derivry, a spokesman for the SNPL pilots' union. The crashed jet was equipped with the older AA model sensors, which Airbus has recommended airlines to replace.
Despite questions about the performance of the Pitot tubes, Derivry stressed: "Today it is not proven or established that the AA model probes are at the origin of the accident."
Airbus CEO Tom Enders defended the A300 yesterday, as his company sought to sell more of the planes at the Paris Air Show.
"Their record is very, very impressive," he said. "More than 16 million flight hours, more than 3 million flights and this is so far one of the safest commercial aircraft built."
"We are supporting the investigation as much as we can and we very much hope that the recorders will be found soon, so that we find out what really happened," Enders said.
Concern about the crash clouded the Paris Air Show. Qatar Airways' head, Akbar al-Baker, said his airline was in the process of replacing its Pitot tubes before the Air France crash.
Meanwhile, an official of the French accident investigation agency, BEA, began examining some of the debris retrieved from the ocean in the Brazilian city of Recife.
On the water, the US Navy device, called a Towed Pinger Locator, was trying to detect emergency audio beacons, or pings, from Flight 447's black boxes, which could be lying thousands of meters below the ocean surface. The sounds begin to quickly fade 30 days after a crash.
Meanwhile, in the deep waters of the mid-Atlantic, a Dutch ship began trolling with a high-tech, United States Navy listening device yesterday in search of the flight data and voice recorders. Investigators say information from those black boxes is key to determining what caused Air France Flight 447 to crash into the ocean with 228 people on board.
Experts looking into the May 31 crash of the 4-year-old Airbus A330 jet have so far focused on the possibility that external speed monitors - called Pitot tubes - iced over and gave false readings to the plane's computers.
In the weeks before the accident, Air France had begun replacing the tubes on its A330 and A340 jets, but not yet on the plane that crashed.
After the accident, the airline pledged to speed up the switch and complete it by the end of this month, after pilots complained.
The whole fleet "is equipped since the end of last week with Thales' BA sensors," said Erick Derivry, a spokesman for the SNPL pilots' union. The crashed jet was equipped with the older AA model sensors, which Airbus has recommended airlines to replace.
Despite questions about the performance of the Pitot tubes, Derivry stressed: "Today it is not proven or established that the AA model probes are at the origin of the accident."
Airbus CEO Tom Enders defended the A300 yesterday, as his company sought to sell more of the planes at the Paris Air Show.
"Their record is very, very impressive," he said. "More than 16 million flight hours, more than 3 million flights and this is so far one of the safest commercial aircraft built."
"We are supporting the investigation as much as we can and we very much hope that the recorders will be found soon, so that we find out what really happened," Enders said.
Concern about the crash clouded the Paris Air Show. Qatar Airways' head, Akbar al-Baker, said his airline was in the process of replacing its Pitot tubes before the Air France crash.
Meanwhile, an official of the French accident investigation agency, BEA, began examining some of the debris retrieved from the ocean in the Brazilian city of Recife.
On the water, the US Navy device, called a Towed Pinger Locator, was trying to detect emergency audio beacons, or pings, from Flight 447's black boxes, which could be lying thousands of meters below the ocean surface. The sounds begin to quickly fade 30 days after a crash.
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